


The Lion's Cub

by ElCapitan18



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-10
Updated: 2015-05-10
Packaged: 2018-03-29 23:18:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3914368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElCapitan18/pseuds/ElCapitan18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Mother's Day one shot that turned out feeling more Father's Day-ish.<br/>Cullen takes a moment to take in the sight of his sleeping wife and daughter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lion's Cub

She was beautiful. 

Her flawless skin was a warm, tawny color, evoking the memory of a summer sunrise chasing away what remained of the previous night’s chill. Her coloring reminded Cullen of caramel apples or toasted sweet rolls, delicious treats too sweet to bear, too precious to go unsavored. She was a beautiful coupling of blonde and auburn, tones of fire from raging to comforting. Still unmarked by this world, she was the embodiment of hope, she was manifestation of dreams, the realization of love in living form.

She was beautiful and she took his breath away.

Cullen stood in front of the love seat, holding his breath as he stared down at Delani and the tiny body resting against her bosom. Silken strands of auburn cascaded around her, a crimson halo that caught the daylight streaming through the windows and reflected it tenfold. Delani’s gorgeous face was buried inside of the crook of her elbow as she slept. Exhaustion having finally caught up with her, she must have fallen asleep while cradling the newest addition to the Rutherford line. 

His heart swelled as he watched his wife and daughter sleep. There was something indescribable about the sight before him, a feeling of fulfillment that spread through his veins thick and sweet like molasses. Cullen had made so many mistakes in his past. His long list of regrets felt unending but here, in this moment, he could not think of a single one. Because for all his faults and the mistakes he’d made, he must have done _something_ right to deserve the gift resting soundly on the love seat.

Delani was the mother he had always known she could be. Her love was as fierce as it was limitless. Even before the birth of their daughter, she was already head over heels in love with the life growing inside of her. She had crafted more than a dozen toys for their child, each more detailed and beautiful than the last. She had spent months preparing the nursery that still sat unused. The colors that brightened the walls or dropped over the crib, the toys and books, and the blankets and pillows, everything and anything their child would ever need had been carefully selected and thoughtfully placed. And not a single night since that of her birth had their baby spent out of their arms. 

Their daughter couldn’t make so much as a peep without Delani leaping to her aid, whatever it might be. Her devotion was complete, her love was absolute, and Cullen had never been more in love with her then he was now, staring down at his snoozing wife and the beautiful baby girl cradled against her chest.

Squatting down beside Delani, Cullen brushed a lock of auburn from her face before gently pressing a kiss to her temple. Quietly he whispered, “ _Ma’arlath, ma atishan,_ ” before moving his attention to the baby resting on her breast. 

A pair of sleepy golden eyes lazily blinked up at him and Cullen immediately melted at the sight of his daughter. He grinned at her, unable to help himself as a fresh wave of love crashed over him and jostled him to the core. Never in his entire life had he imagined a love so great as the one he felt toward the little girl still so new to this world. Never in his life would he have imagined being so singularly devoted to her happiness. Yet here he was, a slave to a pair of hazel eyes and a toothless grin. 

Her little mouth made a large ‘O’ as a soundless yawn pulled into her lungs. Her tiny fists shook with the effort, her little body wriggled as wakefulness reclaimed his drowsy little cub. Grinning at the adorable baby waking in his wife’s arms, Cullen reached for her tiny body and carefully plucked her from Delani’s hold.

Delani shifted as the lack of weight registered in her sleeping mind. She grumbled and turned over on the love seat, burying her face deeper in the crook of her arm as she made herself more comfortable atop its cushions. The newborn now in his grasp also protested being stolen from her mother’s warmth, and Cullen cooed her back into silence as he cradled her to his chest and rocked her back and forth. 

“I know,” he conceded to the look of distaste still adorned on his daughter’s beautiful face with a whisper. “Your da prefers _mamae_ ’s bosom too.”

She stared up at him in wonder as he spoke, listening closely to the deep rumble of his voice and smacking her lips as she loosened and tightened her little fists. Her pupils were ringed with emerald that bled into a gradient pool of gold. Upon first seeing their daughter’s eyes, Delani had claimed that they were the same as Cullen’s. She’d said that she had inherited her father’s features, but all Cullen saw when he looked down at his daughter was his wife’s beauty colored in hues of gold.

With his arm tucked protectively under her neck, Cullen began to trace his daughter’s features as he absently strode in circles around the room. He followed the line of her brow, the slope of her precious button nose, the curve of her chubby little cheeks, and the delicate pucker of her lips. He marveled at how soft she was, at how tiny she was, at how little and delicate and perfect she was. 

In the span of a night Cullen’s whole world had been reduced to eight ounces of joy. She had ten fingers, ten toes, and a strong grip that assured him that his little girl would never want for anything. That grip was currently wrapped around his index finger, tiny fingers clinging to Cullen as she gaped up at him in open-mouthed fascination.

Emotion swelled inside of Cullen as he stared down at his little girl. After all of the fighting that he and Delani had done, after all of the changes that they had helped orchestrate, it was this little bundle in his arms that filled him with hope more than anything. Born out of love, she was a reminder that there was no force stronger in the universe. She was the reminder there were no barriers that love could not break. He and Delani would both arrest the stars from the sky for their little girl, of that there was no doubt.

“Hey,” his attention was pulled from his daughter and over his shoulder to where Delani was stretching herself out on the love seat. Pinning him with a pointed look, Delani pouted, “It was still my turn to hold her.”

Cullen smiled at his wife but made no move to return their daughter to her. “You were asleep,” he argued, not bothering to fight off the grin quickly stretching over his lips. “You forfeited your turn.”

Twisting her lips in distaste, Delani glowered at his rebuttal before rolling her eyes and admitting her defeat in the matter. She could probably tell by the look in his eyes that Cullen was not about to put their baby down. Arguing with him would be pointless. Scooting herself over some, Delani patted the cushion beside her and beckoned him to join her.

“If you’re not going to share her then at least come here so that I can snuggle the both of you.”

He could not refuse his wife her request so, with an acquiescing nod he joined her on the sofa. Delani immediately snuggled up to his side and rested her chin on his shoulder as she grinned down at their daughter. Voice filled with maternal reverence, she stroked the baby’s soft, strawberry blonde hair and murmured, “We didn’t do half bad, did we?”

Unable to look away from his daughter’s hazel eyes, Cullen easily agreed. “No,” he said breathlessly. “We didn’t do half bad at all.”


End file.
